1900 Federal Census - General "WILLIAMS," Head, living in Hamilton township, Martin County, NC. Black, Male, born Jan 1868, age 32, married 9 years, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother Born in NC. Wife, Mary E "WILLIAMS," Black, Female, born Jan. 1872, age 28, married 9 years, born in North Carolina, Father born in North Carolina, Mother born in North Carolina.

Other members of household are as follows:

Je* "WILLIAMS," Head, Black, Female, born Mar 1829, age 70, widowed, 17 children born, 10 living. Born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC

Joseph "WILLIAMS," son of Je* "WILLIAMS," Black, Male, born Sep 1883, age 16, Single, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC

Clansly "JONES," Boarder of Je* "WILLIAMS," Black, Male, born Jul 1892, age 7, Single, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC (I'm sure that this is my grandfather)

Leter "JONES," Boarder of Je* "WILLIAMS," Black, Male, born Aug 1892, age 7, Single, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC

Martha "JONES," Head, Head, Black, Female, born Aug 1877, age 22, Single, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC (I've always assumed that this is great grandmother Martha)

1910 Federal Census - JL "WILLIAMS," living in Hamilton Township, Martin County, NC. Head, Male, Black, age 42, M2, married 19 years. See previous post for the remainder of the 1910 listing.

1920 Federal Census - General "WILLIAMS," living in Cross Roads Township, Martin County, NC, Head, Male, Black, age 53, married, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC. . See previous post for the remainder of the 1920 listing.

Death Certificate - shows that General Williams died on July 25, 1923. He died in Robersonville, Martin, NC. Wife: Mary E. Williams; Father: General Williams; Mother: Jane Williams; Birth Place: Bertie County, NC. Interment at Hamilton Cemetery in Martin County, NC.

Based on the Death Certificate, the 1870 and 1880 censuses for Bertie County were reviewed and the following listings were noted.

1880 Federal Census - General "WILLIAMS," living in Woodville Township, Bertie County, NC, Head, Black, Male, Age 55, Farming, Born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC.

Jane "WILLIAMS," wife, Black, Female, Age 50, Farm Laborer, Born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC.

The following children are listed:

Sarah, daughter, Age 16, born in NCHester, granddaughter, Age 1, born in NCHarry, son, Age 15, born in NCGenl, son, Age 13, born in NCMary, daughter, Age 12, born in NCLazarous, son, Age 10, born in NCAlviny, daughter, Age 9, born in NCRosilla, daughter, Age 7, born in NCFrank, Something other than direct relationship, Age 3, Born in NC

1870 Federal Census - General "WILLIAMS," living in Woodville Township, Bertie County, NC, Age 47, Male, Black, Born in NC

Jane "WILLIAMS," Age 39, Female, Black, Born in NCAlice "WILLIAMS," Age 18, Female, Black, Born in NCDella "WILLIAMS," Age 14, Female, Black, Born in NCHannah "WILLIAMS," Age 11, Female, Black, Born in NCEliza "WILLIAMS," Age 10, Female, Black, Born in NCHenry "WILLIAMS," Age 8, Male, Black, Born in NCGeneral "WILLIAMS," Age 4, Male, Black, Born in NCMary "WILLIAMS," Age 1/12, Female, Black, Born in NC

So, I've been able to find / establish my General Williams, who along with Ms. Mary, reared my grandfather.

I've still not been able to find Ms. Mary or great-grandmother Martha, prior to 1900. I plan to do more "walking" through the neighborhoods to make sure that I did't overlook her / them. It's possible that Ms. Mary's Jones surname could have come from her first marriage and could explain why I've not been able to find her.

In finding the additional census listings, I've noticed that never once is my grandfather given a blood relationship to Ms. Mary / General Williams. I'm use to seeing nephews and nieces indicated on the censuses, also. Therefore, this leads me to wonder if the blood relationship that the family had always assumed existed between granddad and Ms. Mary just isn't there. Now I suppose since all realtionships are in relation to the head of the household that it's still possible he could be related to Ms. Mary but since he wouldn't be to General Williams, the relationships to Mary wouldn't be indicated via census records. Just something else to ponder.

Thanks to GeneJ, administrator and leader for Most Wanted! Ancestors Lost and Found group on Genealogywise, and thanks to the remembrances of my mother, I recently unearthed a few more clues in the search for great grandmother Martha Jones.

All these years, I've always tried to follow Ms. Mary back in time, without any success, figuring that she would lead me back to my great grandmother. Don't know why but rarely ever did I try to follow her or General Williams forward.

I now realize, thanks to GeneJ, that I have to think completely outside the box when it comes to this particular line of my family. The straight lines of conventional methods are useless. With GeneJ's help, I've been following both Mary and General Williams pre- and post 1900.

Let's start with Mary

1900 Federal Census - living in Hamilton township, Martin County, NC as the wife of General "WILLIAMS." Mary E "WILLIAMS," Black, Female, born Jan. 1872, age 28, married 9 years, born in North Carolina, Father born in North Carolina, Mother born in North Carolina.

Other information for this household was listed in my previous post.

1910 Federal Census - living in Hamilton township, Martin Count, NC as the wife of JL "WILLIAMS." M2 Mary E "WILLIAMS," Black, Female, age 37, M2, married 19 years, 0 children born, 0 children living, born in US, Father born in US, Mother born in US.

The following person is also listed with JL and Mary E:

Claudius Jones, Lodger, male, black, age 17, single, born in US, Father born in US, Mother born in US.

1920 Federal Census - living in Cross Roads township, Martin County, NC as the wife of General "WILLIAMS." Marie "WILLIAMS," black, female, age 47, married, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC.

The following person is also listed with JL and Mary E:

Mary Furman, Boarder, female, black, age 46, widowed, born in NC, Father born in NC, Mother born in NC.

Death Certificate - Locating Ms. Mary's death certificate was a bit tricky until I remembered a casual statement my mother had made a few months ago. My mother remembered that after Ms. Mary had gotten up in years, her caregiver contacted my grandmother saying that she could no longer take care of Ms. Mary and asked my grandmother to take care of her. Well, this past week, I quizzed mom more on her remembrances of Ms. Mary, and mom told me that she was living in Winston-Salem, NC with grandmom Jones at the time of her death and that she had been taken back to the eastern part of the state for burial. Mom's remembrance even gave me a time frame because this occurred after my parents had married in 1959.

Unfortunately, Ms. Mary's death certificate didn't reveal a lot. My grandmother was the informant and appears to not have known who Ms. Mary's parents were. Ms. Mary died on Sept. 2, 1963. I was 2 at the time and obviously remember none of this. My grandmother buried Ms. Mary in Pitt County, North Carolina. Now I do wonder why grandmother had Ms. Mary buried in Pitt County given that General Williams, who had died much earlier, was buried in Martin. Perhaps there is no meaning to be attached and that was where my grandmother was able to find a burial location for her. Maybe she didn't even know where General Williams was buried. Just one more thing to consider.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

This is the second of Randy Seaver's, Genea-Musings, Saturday Challenges that I have participated in.

Tonight's challenge was as follows:

1) Write down which of your ancestors that you have met in person (yes, even if you were too young to remember them).

2) Tell us their names, where they lived, and their relationship to you in a blog post, or in comments to this post, or in comments on Facebook.

Earl Wilton Jones (1928 - Present), my father was born in Lumberton, NC. As a young boy, dad moved with his family to Winston-Salem, NC, which is where he grew up, and considers Winston-Salem his hometown.

Iola Everett Jones (1893 - 1969), my paternal grandmother. She was born in the Cross Roads section of Martin County, NC. She met and married my grandfather on Dec. 27, 1914 (Martin County, NC). She and granddad and their young family left Martin County and eventually settled in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, NC. There were a few stops in other NC counties along the way, Halifax and Roberson. I remember visiting my grandmother in Winston-Salem. As her health begin to decline, my aunt brought her to my hometown to live with her. She resided there until her death. She's buried beside my grandfather in Winston-Salem, NC.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Friday, August 7, 2009

Growing up, outside of my aunt Martha, my Uncle Johnnyson was the only other aunt or uncle from my paternal side that lived in the state of North Carolina. When I was a child, Uncle Jonnyson's cigars used to always fascinate me. I remember so many times sitting by him while he puffed on his cigar and asking if I could flick the ashes off. I don't know why but he would always let me do it. From my perspective, sometimes those darn ashes weren't building up fast enough, as I was always trying to grab his cigar out of his mouth so I could flick away the ashes for him. So there were a lot of times I was told, it's not time, yet. So I would sit and squirm until I got the go ahead to flick.

I don't see Uncle Johnnyson much these days. After my cousins and their families moved to the DC area, Uncle Johnnyson moved there, too, to be near them. So, instead of seeing him practically every weekend like I used to, it's now maybe every couple of years. The last few times I saw him, it seems like the early signs of Alzheimer's, which at some point seems to afflict practically every one on the paternal side of my family, was rearing its ugly head. This week, thanks to my cousin Denise, I saw a picture of Uncle Johnnyson that was taken earlier this year. I almost didn't even recognize him and wished for the Uncle whose ashes I was always trying to flick. In that instant, I knew that the genealogical research trips would have to be put on hold for awhile longer because I needed to get my dad up to DC so he could spend some time with his brother. I know the ancestors will understand because you see it's just dad and Uncle Johnnyson left from their generation. I think it will be good for both of them. I hope. The last time they saw each other was fall of 2006 right before dad came to live with me for a couple of months and before he moved into an assisted living facility. Since then, dad's health has been a constant battle which affects him mentally, also. When I mentioned to dad that I was planning to take him up to DC to see Uncle Johnnyson, he thought it was a good idea, too.

Unless, I can coordinate schedules (the cousins and mine) so that I can go sooner, the trip will still end up being a couple of months away (October) but at least I have a target date. And yes, I think I need this trip just as much as daddy and uncle Johnnyson.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

This picture has haunted me for years. According to the description that Aunt Martha wrote by this picture, my grandmother and my oldest uncle, Thomas Langston Jones, are supposed to be in the picture, but for the life of me I've never been able to identify them and silly me never thought to ask my aunt while she was still living. My uncle would have been 3 when my great-grandmother died. For some reason, all the children in this picture have always seemed older than three.

The only person that I'm fairly confident that I can identify is my great-grandfather. I believe that's him with the umbrella. To me, he looks like an older version of my other picture that I have of my great-grandfather.

I've often wondered if other relatives / ancestors are in this picture. Could some of the women be my great-great aunts?

The bigger question is where is my great-grandmother buried. I suspect it's going to take a trip to the eastern part of the North Carolina to try to answer that question. I have a copy of her death certificate but no cemetery or undertaker is indicated on it. Sounds like a research trip is in order to Martin County. At the rate things are going, this trip will probably get done sooner than the one I'm trying to plan for GA to research my maternal ancestors.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

At the end of May, while googling African-American Everett families from Martin County, NC, I came across an old thread / post on Ancestry. When I say old, I mean that it was started in 2001. The last reply / response was in April of 2008.

Even though it was old, I decided to take a chance and leave a response outlining my Everett Genealogy as I knew it at that time (about a week later I unearthed possible names of my great-great-grandparents). Didn't hear anything. Then last night, I received an e-mail from the originator of the thread. Responded back but haven't received a return e-mail, yet.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is a possible link to a lost branch of our family. I must admit that if it is, it might be difficult to determine at the present time. While I'm able to piece together grandmother's aunts and uncles on her mom's line using the censuses, I know nothing about her dad's line.

Until June, all I knew about my great-granddad was that his name was Peter T. "PT" Everett and that he owned a store. As I recently got a copy of his death certificate, I also possibly have his parent's names, Henry Everett and Vica Ann. I'll post more about my Everett line in another thread.

The other poster doesn't know anything about her Everett line either other than they were from Martin County, NC also. Her grandfather's name was Charles Everett

I have to admit that I'm having another one of my crazy gut feelings. Don't all genealogist get them? I just have a feeling about this. Hopefully, I hear back from the other poster soon. I'm sitting on pins and needles now in anticipation that perhaps I'm reclaiming a part of our family.

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"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness."--Alex Haley

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